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Beyond Hot Tubs and Boxers

Genetic Links to Male Infertility

By Kelly Burgess

Many of these factors can be overcome by advances in reproductive medicine, such as IVF (in vitro fertilization) and ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection), but it's also important to consider the risk of passing on genetic abnormalities to the next generation without more careful sperm and semen analyses.

Overall, genetic research into male infertility is in its infancy, but the subject has taken on a new urgency as something that was once a joke in the reproductive field appears to be reality: the possible extinction of the male of our species. "We don't think it's our imagination anymore," says Dr. Leondires. "There definitely appears to be lower global sperm counts. We don't know why this is. It may be environmental, or it may be because, since there's only one Y chromosome, the DNA and amino acids are starting to break down."

One reason for the speculation that our environment may be the cause is because, to the great surprise of researchers, some of the lowest sperm counts were identified in America's heartland. The perception of this part of the country may be of a healthy, corn-and-beef-fed population, but, in fact, the chemicals used in agriculture over the years have made it particularly toxic.

Regardless of the reason, the breakthroughs in genetic causes for male infertility can help promote treatment at the genetic level, even though those treatments may be many years down the road. "I think we're very far away from being able to manipulate the human genome to offer much hope at this point for treating infertility at the genetic level," says Dr. Leondires. "Human reproduction seems simple enough, but in reality it's extremely complicated, and there is still a lot we don't understand about how it all works."

Want to see more?

• Male Factor Infertility
• Little Cup-'o'-Phobia: Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Cup?
• TESE and MESA: Hope for Men Battling Infertility
• Talk about it!